The changing perceptions of junior medical students about the current U.S. health care system after a seminar series

In the last few years dramatic changes have occurred in the way health care is delivered and financed in the United States. Academic medical centers have been slow in helping students understand what these changes will mean. We developed a series of student-run seminars and attempted to study what effect these seminars had on the students' attitudes towards many aspects of the current health care environment. We used recent journal articles as the basis for a student-led seminar series addressing many issues in the current health care environment. A previously developed 33-item survey was administered to the students before and after the seminars to evaluate any changes that occurred in their attitudes towards the evolving health care system. The students' responses showed significant changes on eight of the items surveyed. These included a more negative feeling about non-physician health care providers, a greater appreciation of the need for physicians to become more actively involved with social issues, and a greater understanding of the financial aspects of medicine. After a student-led seminar series there were significant changes in students' attitudes regarding several aspects of the changing health care environment in the United States.